​Emerson Graham + Associates

WELCOME

Emerson Graham + Associates is a firm specializing in fire protection engineering. Our licensed and certified fire protection staff is uniquely qualified in various occupancy types and we possess a broad range of background experiences. including experience as university professors, fire prevention officers and building officials.​We work with architects and other engineers, state and local building officials and fire departments to build and maintain fire safe communities. We can recommend cost effective fire protection solutions to verify that the structure is adequately protected, along with the property and occupants contained within. We consult on various fire safe criterion regarding such as design of exit systems and fire ratings of building assemblies and interior finish materials.

Specialties

Fire Protection

​Fire protection system implementation is at the heart of everything we do as fire protection engineers to provide an appropriate level of fire safety in the built environment. We design fire protection systems including automatic sprinklers, clean agent extinguishing systems, carbon dioxide, foam and dry chemical fire extinguishing systems, fire protection water supplies, fire pumps, fire alarm and detection systems, mass notification/emergency evacuation and smoke control systems.​

Code ​Consulting

The continual development of construction codes at the national and local levels presents challenges for design professionals and owners undertaking new and existing building projects. Just knowing the provisions contained within codes and standards is not always good enough. Having previous experience as building and fire officials helps us to focus on the intent of the regulations, We provide expertise to our clients with a value-added approach to fire protection, life safety, and accessibility challenges you may face on your building project.

Life Safety

​Life safety engineering analyzes the features of a building that enable occupants to exit safely or seek appropriate refuge within a building in the event of a fire or similar emergency. We consider specific occupancy criterion within codes and standards to address features of fire protection for building construction, life safety systems and egress calculations. Where appropriate, alternatives to prescriptive requirements can be met through equivalencies or performance-based design.

What is Fire Protection Engineering?

According to the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, fire protection engineers use science and technology to protect people, property and businesses from destructive fires. They analyze how buildings are used, how fires start, how fires grow, and how fire and smoke affects people, buildings and property.

Our firm is devoted solely to the science of safety and we use the latest technologies to:

Design systems that control fires, alert people to danger and provide means for escape;

Evaluate buildings to pinpoint the risks of fires and the means to prevent them;

Conduct fire safety research on consumer products and construction materials and provide advocacy;

Investigate fires to discover how fire spreads, why protective measures failed, and how those measures could have been designed more effectively.